After weeks of speculation on how the TV series Mad Men would end—most of it glaringly wrong, some of it surprisingly close—those of us who have seen the actual finale are left to ponder the question: What did it all mean?
Here at BUST, however, the answer is pretty clear. The biggest difference from the '60s, when the show began, to the early '70s, where the show wraps up, can be summed up in a single word: Feminism. And the impact of that change was made abundantly clear in each of the closing stories for the three main female characters: Betty, Peggy, and Joan. Read More

Here at BUST we have very important conversations; we question, we discuss, we argue, we throw things. But this week there was a doozy of a mystery; an anxiety-ridden, lip-biting, hair-tearing, earth-shattering question that has kept us all up at night. What will happen during tomorrow night's Mad Men finale? Here are a few of our theories.
Caution: SPOILERS AHEAD!!
Don Draper Really is D.B. Cooper, and Matthew Weiner is Fucking with Us
A couple of years ago, someone posited the very insightful theory that Don Draper may have been based on the real-life D.B. Read More

Despite what you may have seen on AMC, the heyday of Madison Avenue advertising had its fair share of feisty females. And these dames made a lot more than just coffee.“The Chef does everything but cook—that’s what wives are for!” proclaimed Kenwood’s 1961 advertisement for a new kitchen mixer called The Chef. The ad’s implicit sexism is anything but subtle: a beaming woman (wearing a chef’s hat, no less) hugs her husband from behind, apparently thrilled by her new kitchen appliance. Read More

For the past eight years, Mad Men has given us a dramatic look at the lives of executive men in the 60s and the decadent filled lives they led. While there are certainly some dynamic female characters, it is the men that undoubtedly get the focus—done on purpose as a way to depict the era. In fact, some women are often treated as trophies for the pleasure of men and these vintage photographs found in a briefcase document a woman put on display for the gaze of her lover:
Günter K., 39, and Margret S. Read More

Good news! We found today's best way to fight the winter blues: First things first, check out these gorgeous images promoting Mad Men's upcoming season, featuring impeccable clothing straight out of the Age of Aquarius. Second, put together your own 70s-inspired outfit with some of our own recommendations. We guarantee the bright colors, flower prints, and flowing lace materials will get your spirits up.
Aguna Lace Kaftan - $168
Happiest Gal On Earth Top - $39.99
Extraordinary Destinations Earrings and Necklace Set - $24.99
Hilltop Jubilee Jeans - $99. Read More

Loved it when Kristen Bell took on minimum wage issues as the magical Mary Poppins? Christina Hendricks serves up just as much sass in her Mad Men take on the current issue of gender equality in the workplace.
Joan Harris serves up the modern workplace with a nice dose of 1960s hypocrisy in this Funny or Die video. Read More

This might strike as a funny double standard to quibble with (as it involves the ever- dubious devil's brew), but I'm interested today in the gender divisions across bar culture. As a frequenter of the, ahem, “libation establishment” – and a former bartender of two years – I like to think I know a thing or two about drinking culture. And here's the sorriest fact of things, friends: it's a truth universally acknowledged and assumed that a man walks into a bar and orders a) a stout or b) a whiskey on the rocks. Read More

The photographer Suzanne Heintz is sick and tired of being told that she needs to marry and have kids. Although she acknowledges the strides made by women in the past decades in her interview with Feature Shoot, she feels now that a new sort of feminine mystique has emerged in the past years; rather than being expected to be perfect housewives, society now demands that women have the family, the career, and the flourishing social life. Amidst pressure to “have it all,” Heintz has proudly declared herself a “spinster. Read More

Homeland's Carrie Mathison
TIME’s Eliana Dockterman has something to say about the seemingly empowered and independent female television characters in her essay “TV’s Strongest Female Characters Share One Stupid Flaw.”
While applauding the increased presence of female “DC fixers, CIA operatives, [and] revenge-seeking killers” in shows like Scandal, Homeland, and Revenge, Dockterman sees a pattern: each of the lady protagonists jeopardizes her career and her life for a man. Read More

This photo of Kiernan Shipka, who plays Sally Draper on AMC's Mad Men, seems like a natural progression of events if you've been following the show. Sally Draper has gone from sweet child to rebel girl in the span of six seasons of everyone’s favorite 1960s drama. She's fierce and defiant with nearly every authority figure she meets on the show. Read More